Love as a Metaphor
by By the Sounding Sea
Summary: Brennan finally says yes. Yeah, that's my pathetic summary. Rated T because I want it to be, and I probably swore a little without realizing it.


**Alright! Long time, no uploads! Well, in my defense, I was in the Minnesota wilderness (camp) for a month, and the only other thing I can say is that I have had some major writer's block. I started this story in November (I think), and I've been trying to finish it, but I keep forgetting and start working on something else. But I have finally finished it! Some of it's good, some of it's bad, some of it's adequate, but whatever. Anyway, enjoy! And by the way, I don't own _Bones_.**

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><p>"I'm a gambler," Booth said outside of the FBI building. Brennan turned to him, confused. "I believe in giving this a chance. Look, I wanna give this a shot."<p>

Brennan was starting to understand what he was suggesting. "You mean us?" she asked. Booth nodded. "No, the FBI won't let us work together."

"Don't do that!" Booth exclaimed. "That is no reason!" Without any warning, he leaned in and kissed her. She started to kiss back, but after a moment pulled away. Booth could tell that she was very close to tears.

"Wait, wait," Brennan said.

"What, Bones? Wait for what?" said Booth.

"I don't—I don't know if I can," Brennan said.

"If you can do what?" Booth asked.

"I don't know if-if I can open my heart. I don't know if I can," Brennan said desperately. The tears had started to fall down her cheeks. Booth gingerly wiped one away.

"I know you can," he said. "You know, it's not that scary, Bones."

"I don't know…"

"Alright, alright. Just-Just hear me out, okay? You know when you talk to older couples who, you know, have been in love for thirty or forty or fifty years, right? It's always the guy who says, 'I knew.' I knew, right from the beginning," Booth said.

"Your-Your evidence is anecdotal," Brennan said.

"I'm that guy, Bones! I'm that guy! I know. I knew from the moment I saw you that you were the one. You were…_nothing_ like I expected, but I could tell. I _can_ tell. This is it, Bones. You and me, this is it." Booth watched the tears fall down his partner's cheeks. He loved her. He'd known it for a long time. And he was pretty sure she loved him back. He knew it was just a matter to persuading her to let down her guard and let someone in.

"I…"

"Look, I know you're afraid, Bones, I know. I know that you're afraid that it won't work out. I know you're afraid that-that you'll open yourself up to me and I'll leave you, I'll abandon you, like your parents did. But I won't, Bones. I swear on my life, I would never, _ever_ leave you. Not unless you told me to go. Maybe not even then. I know it's hard for you, I understand that. I know you're afraid of the pain that being abandoned leaves behind. But without the risk of pain there can be no possibility for pleasure or-or joy or love. And I'm not saying it would be perfect every step of the way, of course it wouldn't. That's just the way relationships are. But I know that we'd work through anything that came our way."

"How do you know?" Brennan asked. "How are you so sure of all of this?"

"Because I can feel it!" Booth enthused. "Look, I don't have the kind of evidence that you accept as actual evidence. So I want you to do something for me, Bones."

"What?" Brennan said, tears now evident in her voice.

"Jump off a cliff." She looked at him, confused, as if she didn't understand the metaphor. "What I mean is, I need you to take a leap of faith," Booth said.

"You mean guess?"

"An intuitive leap, a quantum leap, that's what you call it, right? That's what I want you to do. Just give this a chance."

"I just don't know if I can…"

"I know you can, Bones!" Booth said. "You're afraid. It's okay, Bones. Say it. Say you're afraid. Tell me you're scared."

"I…I am afraid. I am scared. Booth, I have—I have never given myself, as you sometimes put it, to anyone before. And I don't know…I just don't know…"

"Just please say yes, Bones. Please say yes." She started crying harder. He had her on the spot. He knew he needed to stop pressuring her. He embraced her. She wrapped his arms around him, now sobbing into his shoulder.

"It's okay, Bones, it's okay," Booth said while he stroked her hair. She hugged him tighter, cried harder.

"Shh, shh, shh, Bones. It's okay. I'm not going anywhere. Shh," Booth said, trying to calm her down a bit.

"I'm scared," she said.

"I know, Bones, I know," Booth said. He held her for a few minutes more, just letting her cry. After those few minutes, she spoke, very, very softly, right into his ear.

"Okay."

**XXX**

Dr. Lance Sweets sat in a chair he had pulled up to the window, watching his patients—though they despised being called patients—interact with each other without their knowledge. He was beginning to become frustrated with the lack of audio. He knew whatever was going go outside was very important, very big, crucial to the duo's partnership. He wondered if he could risk stepping outside and hiding just close enough to them to hear what they were saying. He decided no, that that would be idiotic. Neither of the two were stupid, nowhere near, in fact. He knew that they would notice him in a second.

His next observation was the two looking up at his window, his face. And then heading back into the building.

"Crap!" Sweets exclaimed. He would have some explaining to do in a moment.

**XXX**

"Sweets, you nosey little spy," Booth said, barging into the office unannounced, Brennan at his side.

"Agent Booth, Dr. Brennan, why are you back? Did you remember something about your first case that you forgot to tell?" Sweets asked innocently. Brennan looked at Booth.

"He thinks I'm an imbecile. You know, my IQ is higher than yours, Sweets," Brennan said.

"Yeah. He thinks I'm an idiot, too. Come on, Sweets, we saw your face in the window. Why the hell are you spying on us?" Booth demanded.

"I-I wasn't," Sweets said. "I have no idea what your speaking of."

"You know, you're just diggin' yourself into a deeper and deeper hole here, Sweets," Booth said.

"We saw your face in the window, Dr. Sweets," Brennan said. "Why were you spying on us?"

"Why are there tearstains on your cheeks?" Sweets countered. Brennan's face reddened and she turned her head away.

"Stop, Sweets. Tell us what you were doing," Booth said.

Sweets sighed. "Alright. I was spying on you. Agent Booth, before you left here, I saw a look in your eyes. I knew you were going to do something major, and I saw you stop outside the building. So I pulled the chair up to the window and watched. And then I saw you kiss. And then I got ticked off because there wasn't any sound."

"You nosey little—I oughtta kick your ass right now!" Booth said. Brennan held him back.

"Easy, Booth," she said. She turned to Sweets. "You shouldn't have done that."

"I was afraid you wouldn't tell me what was going on, or at least not truthfully," Sweets said. "So when I saw you kiss, I knew that even if you didn't come back into the building and even if you didn't see me, I still had something on you."

"Wait, wait, wait. 'On us'?" Booth said. "What you going to do? Are you gonna tell on us?"

"No, that's not what I meant," Sweets said. "I meant that I'd have something that could make you tell me the truth."

"I don't think he should have done that," Brennan said.

"No, he shouldn't have," Booth agreed.

"Yeah, yeah. I know. I agree that I shouldn't have done that. I apologize, it was invasive," Sweets said.

"Is he being sincere?" Brennan asked.

"Yeah. I think so," Booth said.

"Please tell me what just happened down there," Sweets begged.

"Should we tell him?" Brennan asked Booth.

"I don't know. I can't think of a good reason why we should," Booth said.

"Yes! Yes, you should tell me. And actually, that whole leverage thing about telling on you could work for me. Tell me what just happened down there, or I'll tell the FBI that you kissed. And I _really_ hate that thing you two do where you talk to each other and exclude the third party, namely me. It's _really_ annoying!" Sweets said.

"You know, Bones, I like that whole thing we do when we talk to each other and ignore the other person," Booth said to Brennan.

"I believe Dr. Sweets said that it was an adaptive mechanism," Brennan said.

Booth snorted. "Yeah, adaptive to what?"

"Okay, stop talking to each other, start talking to me," Sweets said.

"Should we?" Booth said.

"Well, he said he'd tell the FBI that we kissed if we didn't," Brennan pointed out.

"Ah, he won't follow through on that," Booth said with a wave of his hand. "He doesn't have the guts."

"Oh, yeah?" Sweets said. "Okay, I'm going right now." He rose from his chair and headed for the door.

"Wait!" Brennan and Booth said in unison. Sweets turned back to them.

"We'll tell you," Booth said.

"Excellent. Have a seat," Sweets said, indicating to the couch with his hand. They sat on the couch next to each other and Sweets sat back down in his chair across from them.

"Well, you said that one of us had to…what'd he say, Bones?" Booth asked Brennan.

"I honestly don't remember. It didn't seem important at the time. I apologize, it obviously would have come in handy long term," Brennan said.

"Yeah. Whatever. Break the mold, or something," Booth said. "So I did."

"You did what?" Sweets asked.

"I told Bones that I wanted to give us a shot."

"And what did you do, Dr. Brennan?"

"I told him that the FBI wouldn't let us work together. And then Booth said that that wasn't a reason and then…and then he kissed me," Brennan said.

"Yes, and you pushed him away," said Sweets. "What did you say to him then?"

"I asked him to wait. And he asked me what I was waiting for."

"What were you waiting for?" Sweets asked.

"I just…I didn't know if I could do it," Brennan said.

"What's 'it'?"

"I didn't know if I could open my heart to another person," Brennan said.

Sweets was giddy. She was sharing so much and he didn't have to do anything. Plus, this was a great story.

"And what did you do, Agent Booth?" Sweets asked.

"I…I wiped a tear from her face. I told her that I knew she could. And I told her that it's not that scary."

"What's not that scary?"

"I don't know, opening up to another person. I told her that when you talk to couples who have been in love for decades how it's always the guy that says that they knew. They knew that that woman was the one. And I knew. From the moment I saw Bones, I knew. Bones was _nothing_ like I expected, but she was the one. Again, I didn't think 'the one' would be someone like, you know, her. But it is. It definitely is."

"What do you mean? What did you expect the girl you fell in love with to be like?" Brennan asked.

"Not like you, that's for sure."

"What does that mean?"

"Well, I dunno, Bones. Just think of someone who's not like you," Booth said.

"I believe Agent Booth is trying to save himself from insulting you by averting your questions, Dr. Brennan," Sweets said.

"Hey!"

"Geez, Bones. It's not necessarily a bad thing," Booth said.

"I won't be insulted, I'm just curious," Brennan said.

"You promise you won't get pissed if I offend you?" Booth asked.

"Yes, I promise."

"Well, I never imagined I'd fall in love with a scientist. I never imagined I'd fall in love with an atheist. I never imagined I'd fall in love with someone so rational. I never imagined I'd fall in love with someone who has such a passion for finding out the truth. I never imagined I'd fall in love with someone as awkward as you. Not a bad thing, just not what I expected. I never thought I'd fall in love with a genius. I mean, the really smart kids used to severely piss me off during school. Anyway, just stuff like that," Booth said.

"Hmm," Brennan said.

"You imagined you'd fall in love with someone like me?" Booth asked.

"I never imagined I'd 'fall in love' at all."

"Huh," Sweets said. Brennan and Booth had sort of forgotten he was there. They turned to him.

"What? What's 'huh', Sweets?" Booth asked.

"Nothing, nothing. Anyway, continue with the story."

Brennan and Booth finished recapping the whole discussion that had taken place. Sweets looked at them. They were telling the truth. The whole truth and nothing but the truth. So help them God.

"Aren't you going to say something, Sweets?" Booth asked.

"Uh, yeah, hang on. Just, you know, trying to calibrate," Sweets said.

"Are you going to tell on us?" Brennan asked.

Sweets sighed. "No, Dr. Brennan. I'm not going to tell on you. As a matter of fact, I think this might be good for both of you. And I don't think your work performance will suffer in any way."

"Well, then?" Booth said. "What else do you want from us?"

Sweets looked at them. "Just…Are you _sure_ you want to do this? I mean, are you _absolutely_ sure? Because you _do_ realize that once you begin this, there's no turning back. If you break up, it'll be the end of everything. Your partnership will be destroyed."

"How do you know, Sweets?" Booth asked sharply.

"The same way you know you that Dr. Brennan is the one for you," Sweets said. "I just know."

Booth turned to Brennan. "Well, Bones? You sure you want to do this? Risk our partnership?"

"That's one of the main reasons why I didn't want to try to be in a relationship with you," Brennan said. "I'd rather be partners and best friends and confidants than a couple. And after that big discussion outside, are you now questioning whether or not _you_ want to do this?"

"Are you kidding?" Booth asked. "Of course not! I've wanted to try this for years. I was just…"

"What? You were what?"

"I was just afraid that you might freak out if I told you that and you'd do something crazy like sever our partnership or something. And by the way, I did try to tell you once."

"What? When?"

"Do you remember when we were on the street one night awhile ago?"

"You'll have to be more specific."

"I told you I loved you. I actually said those words," Booth said. "But then you got this look in your eyes, this really freaked out look. And nervous and confused. So I added 'in an atta girl kind of way'."

Brennan nodded thoughtfully. "I do remember that. I thought you actually meant in an 'atta girl' kind of way. Even though I haven't the _slightest_ idea what that means."

"I'm not entirely sure, either, to be honest," Booth admitted. "But I had to say something, didn't I?"

"So if you were so afraid that I was going to 'freak out,' why did you just ask me outside?" Brennan asked.

"Because, Bones, I realized that I had to do it at some point," Booth said. "I _had _to do it. I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I didn't say it eventually. And now seemed like a good of time as ever. So I asked you."

"Did I respond in the way you thought I would?"

"Yes and no," Booth said. "You _did_ kinda freak out, Bones, there's no denying it." Brennan shrugged. "But I sort of thought you would say yes. I was certainly hoping that you would say yes. If you had said no…Well, I'm not sure I would have been able to live with that reality, either. But like I said, I was pretty sure you would say yes."

"What made you so sure?"

"You're not going to like the answer to that question," Booth said.

Brennan smiled. "Was it your gut?"

Booth smiled back. "However did you guess?"

"Based on pattern, of course," Brennan said. "Half of your actions are driven by your statistically inaccurate gut."

"Rhetorical question, Bones."

"Oh."

"And my gut is almost always right," Booth protested.

"What?" Brennan said. "Your gut is hardly ever right!"

"How many times have I saved our sorry asses by relying on my gut instinct, hmm?"

"Not enough to convince me that it's a reliable way of making decisions," Brennan said. "You might as well consult a Magic 8 Ball."

"Better than consulting Sweets," Booth pointed out.

"I take great offence to that," Sweets said. "I am a very competent counselor."

"Whatever, Sweets," Booth said. He looked back at Brennan. "You've never doubted my gut before."

"Are you kidding me?" Brennan laughed. "I almost always question your gut."

"Then how come you almost always follow my advice?" Booth asked. "It usually comes from my gut instinct."

"I said I didn't trust your gut," Brennan said. "I didn't say I don't trust you." They smiled at each other.

"This," Sweets said. "_This_ is love."

"What's love?" Brennan asked, confused.

"You two," he said. "This is love as a metaphor."

"You know I'm no good with metaphors," Brennan said.

"Unconditional trust," Sweets said. "You drive each other crazy half the time. Someone who doesn't really know you would either think that you despise each or you're in love. You're total opposites, and yet you overlook the major differences, the major flaws, and accept each other for who you are. And you have chemistry. And a feeling."

"A feeling?"

"Yeah, yeah," Sweets continued. "You give other people this feeling."

"What feeling?"

"When people see you two interact—or, at least, this is what I've experienced—you give off this feeling, this energy. It's bright and just makes people smile."

"Why does…'it' make you smile?"

"Because I—and everyone else—can sense how happy you are together, how much you enjoy each other's presence. Well, most of the time, anyway. There are…There are certain ways you two look at each other, and they're looks that I've never seen anywhere else. I've never seen more passionate expressions. Granted, not all of them are diamonds. For example, you both have very some serious emotion on your face when you're enraged, _especially_ at each other. But when they are expressions of positive emotions, such as joy or relief or happiness and all the others…It is truly a spectacle."

Brennan and Booth looked at each other. Sweets smiled. It was a spectacle, alright. A shared expression of understanding, acceptance, elation, satisfaction, relief, optimism, and above all, adoration. Love.

"You know the others at the lab will be absolutely overjoyed when they learn that you've finally gotten together," Sweets said. "I mean, honestly. Five years? They've been waiting a _long_ time. We all have."

Brennan smiled. "Angela will be so excited. And probably a bit smug."

"I think this is going to be great," Sweets said. "You're free to go. And congratulations."

And so Booth and Brennan walked out of the J. Edgar Hoover Building into the chilly night air. But the biting wind didn't bother them one bit. An inexplicable warmth was shooting through both of them. Booth smiled.

"What are you smiling at?" Brennan asked, smiling back at him.

"Your cheeks are all pink."

"It's cold outside!" They both laughed.

"You know I've been waiting five years for this, right?"

Brennan nodded. "I know." She smiled apprehensively. "Everything's going to change now, isn't it?"

"Yes," Booth said. "But, hey, Bones. Change isn't always bad." He leaned forward and kissed her. And this time, she didn't push him away.

"This change isn't bad."


End file.
